CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2 Literature Review
2.2.2 Research on Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy
The concept of self-efficacy was first proposed by Bandura (1977).
Bandura believed that the called self-efficacy refers to the individual’s judgment, evaluation, and belief of the action plan he or she takes under a special situation (Zalazar-Jaime & Medrano, 2021). Midgley (1986) believes that self-efficacy is a person’s sense of effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the result of his behavior (X. Li, 2019). Scholar Zhuang (2005) pointed out that the sense of self-efficacy is an individual’s subjective feeling or cognition. Individuals speculate and evaluate whether they have the ability and confidence to complete a predetermined goal or task, that is, a self-belief of “can’t” or “I can do”.
On the dimension of self-efficacy, the research of scholar Bandura has far-reaching influence. It believes that it can be divided into three aspects. First, the extent of self-efficacy. Individuals’ self-efficacy can be divided into different levels according to the difficulty of the task. Different levels of self-efficacy will affect the choice of tasks, that is, individuals with high levels of self-efficacy will choose difficult tasks. Second, the strength of self-efficacy. Different levels of self-efficacy will determine the impact of experience and experience on individuals, that is, individuals with high levels of self-efficacy will not be affected by the failure of experience, but continue to invest energy and effort. Third, the universality of self- efficacy. In other words, the more universal the self-efficacy of an individual is, the higher the self-belief and confidence will be in a wider range of fields. Believing that they have the relevant abilities to achieve or complete a given goal or task in a variety of areas.
2) Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and its connotation
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is the application of self-efficacy in the entrepreneurial field. Since the 1990s, scholars Boyd & Vozikis introduced the concept and theory of self-efficacy of Band Urra into the field of entrepreneurship research for the first time, combining self-efficacy with entrepreneurial activities.
Self-efficacy is redefined as Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy (ESE). Thus, it becomes a significant driver of predicting and influencing entrepreneurial behavior and the success of new ventures.
After decades of research, although domestic and foreign scholars have not reached a consensus on the connotation and definition of entrepreneurial self- efficacy, great progress has been made. W. Zhou and Guo (2006) pointed out that entrepreneurial self-efficacy is directly related to the predetermined task through the entrepreneur’s self-confidence and belief in the predetermined task. Therefore, it can be used to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs and predict entrepreneurial activities. Self-efficacy is related to specific application fields.
Because different fields have different requirements on individuals’ abilities and skills, individuals’ self-efficacy is also different. From the definition of the individual role, Y. Jin (2018) indicated that the belief of individuals that they are capable of acting as entrepreneurs and finally complete various entrepreneurial tasks is entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Scholars, Luthans and Ibrayeva (2006), pointed out in their research that entrepreneurs’ evaluation of their abilities is a kind of self- confidence and belief that whether their abilities and skills can influence the environment and complete the predetermined goals. Higher self-efficacy can promote the individual’s learning ability and risk tolerance. According to scholar, M. Ding, Yang, and Wang (2009b), entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to the belief that an individual believes that he or she is competent for different entrepreneurial roles and believes that he or she can complete entrepreneurial activities In defining entrepreneurial self-efficacy, L. Han and Fu (2014) pointed out that entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to an individual’s judgment and evaluation of whether he can complete tasks and activities in the future when carrying out tasks or engaging in entrepreneurial activities, and in the process, confidence or belief will be formed. T.
Luo (2017a), when discussing the influence of entrepreneurship education curriculums on college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, shows the individual’s assessment of whether they have confidence and ability to engage in certain activities.
To sum up, entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to the self-confidence and belief possessed by individuals to complete entrepreneurial tasks or achieve entrepreneurial goals. This kind of confidence and belief is mainly reflected in two aspects. (1) Potential entrepreneurs’ belief that they can complete the entrepreneurial task, that is, the self-efficacy of entrepreneurial content. (2) The belief that potential
entrepreneurs can complete the entrepreneurial behavior process, namely, the self- efficacy of the entrepreneurial behavior process. See Table 2.10.
Table 2.10 A list of the Connotation of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy
Scholars Year Meaning Expression
Zhou and Guo 2006 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is a kind of self- confidence and belief of entrepreneurs on the predetermined task, which is directly related to the predetermined task, so it can be used to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs and predict entrepreneurial activities.
Zhao and Cai 2018 Self-efficacy is related to specific application fields, because different fields have different requirements on individual abilities and skills, so individual self-efficacy is also different.
Jin 2018 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is the belief strength of individuals that they can successfully play various entrepreneurial roles and complete the tasks related to entrepreneurship.
Wang, et al. 2016 From the definition of individual role, it shows that individuals believe that they have the ability to act as entrepreneurs and finally complete various entrepreneurial tasks, which is entrepreneurial self-efficacy.
Luthans and Ibrayeva
2006 The author points out in his research that the entrepreneur’s assessment of his ability, whether his ability and skills can influence the
environment and successfully complete the predetermined goals is a kind of self-confidence and belief.
Laviolette 2012 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is an important variable to predict the intensity of entrepreneurial
Scholars Year Meaning Expression
willingness and whether to take entrepreneurial action.
Tsai and Schjoedt
2016 2017
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to the commitment and belief that one can obtain the expected results. Higher self-efficacy can promote the individual’s learning ability and improve risk tolerance.
Ding 2009 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to
individuals’ belief that they are competent for different entrepreneurial roles and believe that they can complete entrepreneurial activities.
Han 2009 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy refers to an
individual’s judgment and evaluation of whether he or she has the ability to complete tasks and activities when he or she is going to carry out tasks or engage in entrepreneurial activities in the future, and in this process, confidence or belief is formed.
Luo 2017 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is an individual’s assessment of whether he or she has the confidence and ability to engage in certain activities. The process reflects the entrepreneur’s confidence that he or she has the ability to influence the environment and achieve success through corresponding behaviors.
Source: M. Tang (2009).
3) Dimensions and scales of entrepreneurial self-efficacy
Scientific and reasonable division of dimensions is conducive to a more in-depth and thorough study of the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on entrepreneurial willingness. The dimensions of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in academic circles have not been unified (Drnovšek, Wincent, & Cardon, 2010). Some researchers regard entrepreneurial self-efficacy as one-dimensional (Luthans &
Ibrayeva, 2006), but more scholars believe that entrepreneurial self-efficacy needs multi-dimensional measurement. The scholar proposed to divide entrepreneurial self- efficacy into accounting, production, marketing, human resources, and general organizational tasks (Betz & Hackett, 1997). Some researchers believe that entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process is particularly important. In his research, the self-efficacy in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process was added to the scale of entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a dimension. It includes five dimensions of investor relationship efficacy, new enterprise management efficacy, uncertainty tolerance efficacy, opportunity identification efficacy, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Barbosa, Gerhardt, &
Kickul, 2007).
Scholars draw lessons from empirical studies of relevant entrepreneurial self-efficacy scales and propose that the main tasks involved in the entrepreneurial process include three aspects, namely opportunity identification, resource integration, maintenance, and growth. Based on these entrepreneurial tasks, the scale of entrepreneurial self-efficacy should include six dimensions of opportunity identification, organization, relationship, commitment, strategy, and concept (J. Tang
& Jiang, 2007).
Fu Hong established the scale of college students’ entrepreneurial self- efficacy including entrepreneurial ability self-efficacy, personality self-efficacy, and environmental (L. Han & Fu, 2014). self-efficacy in their research. Qu Huan divided college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy into the market, management, innovation, risk-taking, and financial control when they studied it (D. Jin & Qu, 2016). Pu Mingzhe believe that entrepreneurial self-efficacy includes innovation management, resource acquisition, opportunity identification, and risk management self-efficacy in the study of urban entrepreneurial activities of migrant workers (Pu,
Zheng, & Fu, 2016). Zhang Guozheng et al., referring to a large number of research results, combined entrepreneurship with traditional Chinese culture, divided entrepreneurial self-efficacy into an entrepreneurial plan, entrepreneurial resources, interpersonal relationship, risk-taking, innovation, and change, and explored the influence of entrepreneurial willingness (G. Zhang, Yi, & Yue, 2017). Zhang Yinxuan, when discussing the influence of college students’ creative personality on entrepreneurial willingness, divided entrepreneurial self-efficacy as the mediating variable into innovation and change, risk-taking, opportunity identification, and relationship management (Y. Tang & Zhang, 2018).
To sum up, there is still controversy in the academic circle about the construction dimension of entrepreneurial self-efficacy measurement. The measurement and content dimension of entrepreneurial self-efficacy need to be explored and empirically tested. As shown in Table 2.11 below, the measurement dimensions and indicators of entrepreneurial self-efficacy are summarized based on the viewpoints of various researchers.
Table 2.11 Measurement Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy
Scholars Year Number of
Dimensions
Measure the Dimensions
Luthans and Ibrayeva
2006 1 Entrepreneurial self-efficacy
Betz and Hackett 1997 5 Accounting
Production Market
The human resources
General organizational tasks Scholars Barbosa;
Gerhardt & Kickul
2007 4 Efficiency of investor
relations
Management efficiency of new enterprise
Uncertainty tolerance
Scholars Year Number of Dimensions
Measure the Dimensions
efficiency
Opportunity recognition efficiency
Tang and Jiang 2007 6 Opportunity recognition
Organization
Relationship between Commitment
Strategic Conceptual
Zheng et al. 2014 3 Entrepreneurial ability and
self-efficacy
Personality efficacy Environmental efficacy
Jin and Qu 2016 5 Market
Management Innovation Risk-taking Financial control
Zhe, Zheng, and Fu 2016 4 Innovation management
The resource acquisition Opportunity recognition Risk management
Zhang, Yi, and Yue 2017 5 Business plan
Entrepreneurship resources Interpersonal relationships Risk-taking
To innovation
Tang and Zhang 2018 4 Innovative change
Risk-taking
Scholars Year Number of Dimensions
Measure the Dimensions
Opportunity recognition Relationship management
Source: Hou (2014).
4) Influencing factors of entrepreneurial self-efficacy
Wilson and Kickul found that men had better entrepreneurial self- efficacy than women when they studied American college students (Wilson, Kickul, Marlino, Barbosa, & Griffiths, 2009). Based on the social cognition theory, some scholars found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy would be influenced by family factors, cognitive factors, environmental persuasion, and individual characteristics (M. Ding & Sun, 2010; Wilson et al., 2009). Yin Yuxiao showed through empirical research that college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy would be influenced by past entrepreneurial experience and participation in entrepreneurship training curriculums. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is influenced by some factors. As a predictive variable, it can affect other factors (Quan Chen & Yin, 2015). Qu Huan showed a significant positive correlation between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness of college students in a survey of students in a university in Nanjing (D. Jin & Qu, 2016). Yi Zhaohui confirmed the positive influence of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on entrepreneurial orientation in the investigation of small and micro technology-based enterprises (Yi, Duan, & Ren, 2018). In the field of entrepreneurship research, the key role of entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a dual variable has attracted much attention from scholars. When Zhang Xu discussed the dynamic effect of network embeddedness on college students’ entrepreneurial willingness, they found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy played a fully mediating role in the influence of network embeddedness on college students’ entrepreneurial willingness (Hongbo Li & Zhang, 2014). Ai Juan studied the influence of achievement motivation on entrepreneurial willingness among college students in Tianjin. The mediating effect of self-efficacy was confirmed (Juan, 2016). Zhang
Yinxuan built a model based on entrepreneurial cognition theory and found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy played a partial mediating role in the relationship between creative personality and entrepreneurial willingness (Y. Tang & Zhang, 2018).
5) Research on the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial willingness, and entrepreneurial performance
The relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial willingness has always been a hot topic for scholars. Scholars such as Pu Mingzhe analyzed the impact of migrant workers’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy on their urban entrepreneurial willingness. The results show that the stronger the self- efficacy of resource acquisition and risk management, the higher the willingness of urban entrepreneurship of migrant workers (Pu et al., 2016). Xiaoqing took college students from both sides of the Taiwan Straits as the survey object and showed that entrepreneurial self-efficacy of college students from both mainland and Taiwan would have a positive impact on their entrepreneurial willingness (X. Li, 2017).Yang Yue found that entrepreneurial self-efficacy had a positive impact on entrepreneurial willingness through a survey of 316 college students in Sichuan Province (Y. Yang, Wan, & Qiao, 2018).
Su (2018) conducted a study on Chinese entrepreneurs and confirmed that entrepreneurs with high entrepreneurial self-efficacy can show the best state in the development of enterprises and promote the healthy development of enterprises.
Yi Zhaohui, based on entrepreneur traits and social cognition theory, took 317 small and micro technology-based enterprises in Changsha, Hunan Province as objects, and confirmed that entrepreneurial self-efficacy had a positive impact on entrepreneurial orientation (Yi et al., 2018).
2.2.3 A Study on Entrepreneurial Willingness of College Students